WASHINGTON—The Obama administration announced changes on Friday to its controversial “contraception mandate” with a policy that shifts the responsibility to offer free birth control—including abortion-causing drugs—away from religious organizations to their insurance companies.

But pro-life advocates were taking no comfort in the changes, charging that the increased costs to insurers would be passed on to religious organizations in paying for the broader insurance group plans.

House Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told LifeNews.com: “This ObamaCare rule still tramples on Americans’ First Amendment right to freedom of religion. It’s a fig leaf, not a compromise. Whether they are affiliated with a church or not, employers will still be forced to pay an insurance company for coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs,” he said.

The new policy, the White House said, would allow religious institutions to avoid offering contraception in their insurance plans. Instead, the new plan “ensures … (the) insurance company will be required to offer contraceptive care free of charge.

“The new policy ensures women can get contraception without paying a co-pay and addresses important concerns raised by religious groups by ensuring that objecting religious employers will not have to provide contraceptive coverage or refer women to organizations that provide contraception,” according to a White House “fact sheet” on the changes.

GuideStone Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, which provides health insurance coverage and other services to more than 200,000 people, expressed strong opposition Monday (Feb. 6) to the mandate in its earlier form, especially its failure to provide adequate conscience protections.

The mandate required all methods approved as birth control by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be included in a range of services offered to patients free of charge. Those FDA-endorsed contraceptives include ones that have abortion-causing properties — “ella;” emergency contraception, such as Plan B, and the intrauterine device (IUD).

Under the revisions, insurance companies would be required to offer these contraceptives directly to women free of charge if they work for a religious institution that refuses to cover them directly in their insurance plan.

—Compiled by staff and Baptist Press reports

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Only 51 percent of Americans age 18 and older are married, compared to 57 percent a decade ago, according to a new study, and while young adults aspire to marry, it's not a priority.

The median age when women first marry is at a new high of older than 26, and the corresponding age for men is almost 29, the Pew Research Center said.

By comparison, in 1960, 72 percent of all adults were married in the United States, and the median age for brides was barely 20 and grooms were just a couple of years older, The Washington Post noted Dec. 14.

In 2010, 7.5 million couples were living together without being married, representing a 13 percent increase in just one year. The Post said the economy is largely to blame, with dating couples struggling to support two households but not being willing to commit to marriage.

A sociologist at Johns Hopkins University told The Post that in the 1950s marriage was mandatory but now it's “culturally optional.” Just last year Pew found that more than four in 10 Americans under 30 consider marriage old-fashioned.

Yet most young adults today express a desire to marry eventually, once they've had time to establish careers, travel the world and indulge in hobbies.

Matt Statler, a 29-year-old resident of the nation's capital, told The Post he'd like to marry someday, but he's “definitely in no hurry.” He wants the freedom to do what he wants for a time without feeling that he should be spending time in a committed relationship.

“It's just easier to date around and not be as emotionally invested in someone when I have other goals in life right now,” Statler told The Post.

Another major factor in the declining marriage rate is a generation of youth who have experienced their parents' divorces and fear repeating the mistakes. 

The newspaper quoted a 30-year-old woman whose divorced father advised her to wait at least until age 35 to marry. Such young adults, Pew found, believe that living together is a safer first step.

BARNA REFLECTS ON 2011 TRENDS — Americans are struggling to determine how faith, Christianity and church fit into modern life, The Barna Group said in its reflection on six top trends of 2011.

“Only Billy Graham, the Pope, Barack Obama and Joel Osteen were mentioned by more than 1 out of 50 adults as the most significant Christian leaders,” Barna said. “What's more, 41 percent of Americans are unable to identify who they consider to be an influential Christian.”

Also among the year's trends: 

— People are living with a redefined American dream that includes less spending, more saving and less charitable giving. A growing number believe the economy will not recover from its current slump.

— Nearly 85 percent of Christian 18- to 29-year-olds admit they have no idea how the Bible applies to their field or professional interests, Barna found. Young adults who are interested in creative or science-oriented careers often disconnect from their faith or from the church.

— Technology has become a modern addiction and, while bringing notable good to everyday life, has increased conflict within families. Barna said churches can help families navigate the digital world by helping them reimagine the role of sabbatical living, such as taking meaningful breaks from technology. 

— While most Americans claim to be Christians or at least spiritual people, the spiritual transformation of lives is hard to find. Most Christians “simply do not understand the obstacles they face on the spiritual journey,” Barna said, identifying four common barriers: lack of commitment, unwillingness to fully repent, confusing activity for growth and failure to engage in genuine, accountable community. 

— More than ever, young women are preparing to live independently by getting educated and finding a job, Barna said, adding that research shows teenage girls aspire to most of the same careers as teenage boys, including the military, law enforcement, firefighting and government. 

“Another surprising fact about the changing views of young women is that only 1 percent of teen girls explicitly identifies 'domestic work' or 'homemaking' as their future occupational choice,” Barna said. 

BALE'S VISIT TO FORCED ABORTION FOE REBUFFED — Christian Bale, star of the latest “Batman” movie franchise, was repulsed by authorities Dec. 15 as he sought to visit a leading opponent of China's coercive abortion program.

Bale and a CNN television crew were blocked by the guards at a checkpoint as they sought to walk from their car to the home of Chen Guangcheng in Dongshigu Village in eastern China. The guards — dressed in olive green military-style overcoats — pushed Bale and the others back, CNN reported. When Bale pulled out a small camera, the guards hit him as they aimed punches at his camera and tried to drag him away from the others.

“Why can I not visit this free man?” Bale asked repeatedly, according to the report.

The actor and the CNN crew had driven eight hours from Beijing in an effort to see Chen, who has been under house arrest for more than a year. He and his wife reportedly have been tortured and denied medical care during that time. Prior to his home detention, Chen served more than four years in prison on what his supporters describe as trumped-up charges by the government.

Chen, a 40-year-old lawyer who is blind, filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of Linyi on behalf of women who had been forced to have abortions or sterilizations. In the county in which he lives, there were 130,000 coerced abortions and involuntary sterilizations in 2005 alone, according to the ChinaAid human rights organization.

China's population control program — known as the one-child policy and instituted officially in 1980 — generally limits couples in urban areas to one child and those in rural areas to two, if the first is a girl. Parents in cities may have second babies if the husband and wife are both only children. 

The program has been marked by forced abortion — even in the final trimester — and sterilization. Infanticide, especially of females, also has been reported.

After Bale was turned back from visiting Chen, he told CNN, “What I really wanted to do was to meet the man, shake his hand and say what an inspiration he is.”

He said on the drive to Chen's village, “This doesn't come naturally to me, this is not what I actually enjoy — it isn't about me. But this was just a situation that said I can't look the other way.

“I'm not brave doing this. The local people who are standing up to the authorities, who are visiting Chen and his family and getting beat or detained, I want to support them.”

According to CNN, Bale learned about Chen while he was in China for the filming of “The Flowers of War,” which portrays the brutal 1930s invasion of Nanjing by Japanese troops. He returned to Beijing for the movie's premier and invited the CNN crew to accompany him as he sought to visit Chen. The movie is China's official entry in the Academy Award competition.

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, described Bale as “a hero. He is starring in the most expensive film ever made in China, which China hopes will win an Academy Award. Nevertheless, he has the courage to stand against official injustice and has greatly raised the visibility of Chen's case.”

Women's Rights Without Frontiers works to combat coerced abortion and sexual slavery.

Bale is best known for his role in the “Batman” movie series, which will resume next summer with “The Dark Knight Rises.” He won an Academy Award as best supporting actor earlier this year for his role in “The Fighter.”

EX-PLANNED PARENTHOOD CLINIC DIRECTOR JOINS AUL — Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director, joined Americans United for Life Dec. 8 as senior policy adviser.

She also announced Nov. 21 the launch of a ministry to reach out to abortion clinic workers. Its name will be And Then There Were None.

Johnson has become a leading pro-life advocate since resigning in 2009 as director of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas. She left the clinic she had worked at for eight years after viewing an abortion by means of a sonogram. At the time, Johnson said she had already become disillusioned with her job, recounting that a Planned Parenthood supervisor had been urging her to find ways to increase profits by performing more abortions.

Johnson's knowledge of Planned Parenthood will help Americans United for Life in its effort to eliminate government funding of the abortion giant, the organization's president said.

“No one understands better than Abby how intertwined abortion policy and government funding have become…. She will be an integral part of our work to expose and defund the abortion industry,” Charmaine Yoest said in a written statement. 

Planned Parenthood clinics performed more than 332,000 abortions in 2009, making the organization the country's leading abortion provider. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates received more than $363 million in government grants and contracts from federal, state and local sources in 2008-09.

Johnson and six other former Planned Parenthood employees volunteered Dec. 7 to testify in a congressional investigation into alleged illegal and unethical behavior by the abortion giant.

PA. LAWMAKERS TIGHTEN STANDARDS FOR ABORTION CLINICS — Both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature have approved a bill that will require abortion clinics in the state to meet the same health and safety standards as other outpatient surgery centers.

Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, is expected to sign the legislation into law.

The Senate voted 32-18 for the proposal Dec. 14, a day after the House of Representatives passed it in a 151-44 roll call, according to the Pennsylvania Independent.

The measure requires abortion clinics to expand the size of operating rooms, install elevators and have driveways and parking lots large enough for ambulances, the Independent reported.

Planned Parenthood and other organizations that support abortion rights oppose the bill, saying it will reduce access to the procedure.

Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute and a backer of the measure, welcomed the standardization between abortion clinics and other outpatient facilities. He told the Independent, “If that is what the state is requiring for arthroscopic knee surgeries, what is special about abortion that it should be granted allowances for lower standards?”

Lawmakers proposed the legislation after a grand jury report in January revealed a West Philadelphia clinic owned by abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was marked by deplorable conditions that resulted in its closing and Gosnell's medical license being suspended. 

Gosnell and eight others, including his wife, were charged with counts that include first-degree murder, third-degree murder, conspiracy and corruption. Six former employees have pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Gosnell.

On Dec. 14, Gosnell's wife Pearl pleaded guilty to charges that included taking part in an illegal, late-term abortion, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Gosnell, 70, has been charged with eight counts of murder — one in the death of a woman and seven in the deaths of viable, fully delivered children who were killed. Those babies were only some of hundreds at least six months into gestation who were killed outside the womb after induced delivery at the clinic, the grand jury reported. Gosnell destroyed most of the files, limiting prosecution to only seven cases.

Compiled by Baptist Press assistant editor Erin Roach and Washington bureau chief Tom Strode.

JACKSON, Tenn.—Nelda normally came to church, sat in the back and made her exit quickly with the final “Amen.”

Having come to faith as a teen, this single grandma had seldom been nurtured and had yet to make a public profession of her faith in Christ. And although Nelda had been attending our church for a dozen years, we had never been able to pull her into our small-group community.

Then she heard about “Read the Bible for Life,” a nine-week small group study that would be followed by a year of walking and worshipping through the pages of the world’s greatest book. Nelda thought, “I’ve never read through the Bible before; I probably should do that.”

She got hooked.

The nine-week study, which focuses on how to read the Bible better, drew Nelda into the small group experience and gave her a compelling vision for reading the Bible in a fresh life-altering way. Then, through the following year, our small groups read through the Bible chronologically. Each week small group leaders helped the participants explore discussion questions, and the week culminated in a whole-church worship service with a sermon focused on a key passage from that week’s reading.

The combination of individual reading, small-group discussion and worship was powerful and brought great changes to Nelda’s life. She made a public profession of her faith and was baptized. Last summer she and her teenage grandson went on a mission trip to Romania. As a result of that trip, her grandson has come to faith in Christ and was baptized a few weeks ago. And Nelda is ministering to Kathy, who has yet to make a profession of faith but has gotten involved in Nelda’s small group.

As Nelda has engaged God’s Word in the past year, two dynamics have been vitally important.

First, she has learned how to read the parts of Scripture well. Too often we hand people a Bible, this ancient, sometimes complex book, and say, “Here. You should read this.” Learning how to hear God speak variously through a psalm, or a parable, or a letter from Paul, and learning how to apply the Bible’s truths to life responsibly can make all the difference. It has made a big difference for Nelda as she has met the Living God in the pages of His living Word (Hebrews 4:12).

Second, Nelda has gotten drawn into the Bible’s grand story. When I asked her about the main impact reading through the Bible has had on her life she replied, “I never knew how all the stories fit together to make sense.” She woke up one morning and realized that the stories of the Bible are one story, and that big, beautiful story is her story. As she understood how the Bible’s story fits together, she saw more clearly the purpose of her own life.

So how about you? Do you and your community have a plan for reading, walking and worshiping through the Word in 2012?

Check out the tools at www.readthebibleforlife.com. Among other things you will find downloadable reading plans, a chronological Bible called Reading God’s Story, and a Reader’s Guide to the Bible that will coach you day-by-day through the year. 

In the final week of 2011, we will release a free audio podcast of the chronological reading plan, which you can access through apps, Facebook or Twitter.

Frank Cooke, a British Baptist leader in the 20th century, once said, “The foundation of every reformation of the Holy Spirit is the Word of God made plain to the people.” We need reformation; we need to read the Word in the coming year. This could change everything in our lives, our families and our churches.

Nelda still sits in the back during worship each Sunday, but now she has a big smile on her face and her HCSB Study Bible tucked under her arm. She lingers after the service, enjoying the people and presence of God. Her life and the lives of those around her will never be the same.

George H. Guthrie is the Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and author of “Read the Bible for Life: Your Guide to Understanding and Living God’s Word,” published by the B&H Publishing Group of LifeWay Christian Resources. For more information, visit www.readthebibleforlife.com.

Editor’s note: The Jan. 23 TEXAN will include a special report on the Anabaptists and their continuing influence. Martin Luther’s reforms were foundational to what later became the Baptist movement. The following first-person article is part of that special report.

WITTENBERG, Germany—On a cold, crisp, late October day in 1517, a concerned professor in a small German university town posted a list of ideas he wanted to discuss on the town bulletin board, which also happened to be the wooden door of the Castle Church. Little did 33-year-old Martin Luther realize, as he nailed what has now been famously called the “95 Theses” to that door, that he would soon become a lightning rod throughout Germany and that the town of Wittenberg would become the epicenter of the Protestant Reformation.

Luther’s accusations against the pope, the Catholic Church’s views on purgatory, and the heretical idea of purchasing the forgiveness of sins rang a resounding alarm. Aided by the rise of the printing press, the young monk’s questions flooded the German countryside. Alongside this was his call for a scriptural view of salvation, not by works but by grace alone through faith alone.

Yet Luther’s quest to return the church to its foundation did not spring from self-seeking motives or power-hungry ambition. In fact, the Protestant Reformation started with a personal reformation in Luther’s own heart as he studied Scripture and sought the Lord fervently in prayer.

It was Luther’s love for the Bible that fueled his resolve against the pope’s threats of excommunication, which would brand him a criminal in the eyes of the empire. When he received the label of “heretic,” his friends kidnapped him and hid him in Wartburg Castle to protect him from those who sought his life.

During those 10 months of hiding, Luther translated the New Testament into the German vernacular, a feat that would burst open the doors of the Reformation as it now made the Scriptures available and understandable to the common man. No longer would the Scripture be shackled in the Latin tongue and sequestered from the people. They could now read the Bible for themselves and experience the same life-transforming power it gave Luther.

This high view of Scripture and trust in its absolute authority paved the way for a spiritual revolution across Western Europe whose ripples are still felt today in modern evangelical churches. However, the sad truth of the story is that this fidelity to the Bible did not stand the test of time, as Germany became the breeding ground in the 19th and 20th centuries for liberal theology, which jettisoned the conviction of biblical inerrancy and has left only a few embers of evangelical Christianity in the country as well as in the rest of Europe. Although Oct. 31 is recognized as Reformation Day in Germany, I wondered how many Germans realize its significance.

So as my wife and I waited to board the train headed for the small, out-of-the way town of Wittenberg on Reformation Day last October, I did not know what to expect. We were headed to the tiny university town because I am a church history buff, and since we were in the country, I could not pass up the opportunity to visit on such an historic day. Would we be the only people on the train headed to our destination?

To my surprise, I found myself standing among a small crowd waiting to board the same train. As we made the hour-long journey, more people hopped on at the various stops, and we all exited the train together in Wittenberg. My excitement escalated further as we entered the town and saw the main street packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people. Maybe I had short-changed the German people and their knowledge of church history after all.

Then, I saw it.

A banner over the street read, “Wittenberg Renaissance Music Festival October 23-31.” As we pressed into the crowd, there were booths with food vendors and merchants in medieval period garb selling their wares. Street performers entertained the crowds as minstrels plucked away. Although there were groups in the Luther Museum and visitors to the Castle Church that day, it became apparent that the masses were there to celebrate the Renaissance, not the Reformation.

Ironically, a statue of Luther holding a Bible towered above the crowd in the town square. Had it been the real Luther, I imagined a tear or two running down his cheek. Surely he would weep over the dearth of Christianity in his homeland.

A German friend of mine recently said, “Martin Luther brought the Bible back to the people. Today, we have to bring the people back to the Bible.”

As I heard these words, I could not help but consider Christianity in America and, more specifically, among Southern Baptists. History shows that trends in Europe reach the shores of America within a decade or two. Many see the writing on the wall that the United States is quickly becoming a post-Christian nation, if it has not already become so. Even the buckle of the Bible belt shows signs of rust.

Among Southern Baptists, the Conservative Resurgence of the last few decades defied odds and signaled the only Christian denomination to turn from its slide toward liberalism back to a faithful commitment to the inerrancy, sufficiency and authority of Scripture. Verbally, we claim to be “people of the Book,” but practically, signs of dusty, unopened Bibles often loom over our churches.

Yet we are not without hope. Revival is not impossible.

So how do we fan back into flames those fires that once burned so brightly? The answer is simple: it starts the same way as the Reformation. True revival starts with a personal reformation in our hearts as we study Scripture and seek the Lord fervently in prayer.

You may never be a Martin Luther, and you may never lead wide-scale national reform, but you can be an agent of change in your family and in your church. Remarkable things happen among those who love the Lord and are fully committed to living out his Word.

As 2012 approaches, will you join me in a renewed focus on daily prayer and Scripture reading? Sure, many Christians commit to this every New Year, but what if this year it was less about checking the boxes and more about loving the Bible and, more importantly, its Author.

But one word of wisdom as you read and pray: You may want to post discussion questions on your church’s Facebook page rather than nailing it to the church’s front door.

—Keith Collier is director of news and information at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in preaching and church history.

— 30 —

ATHENS—The estimated 5,000 people who attended a rally in support of an embattled nativity scene in Henderson County heard more than just sentiment bemoaning the efforts of secularists to remove religious symbols from public spaces.

They also heard the gospel.

The Saturday (Dec. 17) rally in Athens took place more than two weeks after the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), at the behest of an anonymous Henderson County resident, sent a letter to county officials stating that the religious display on the courthouse lawn was in violation of a United States Supreme Court decision and should be removed from county property.

County Judge Richard Sanders and a majority of Henderson County commissioners have opposed moving the nativity scene, which is owned by a civic group called Light Up Athens.

“We stand here today because we believe in the One whom the nativity scene represents,” proclaimed Robert Welch, pastor of Rock Hill Baptist Church in nearby Brownsboro, who went on to explain the Christian meaning of the incarnation.

The babe in the manger, Welch said, was “fully God, fully man.” He was also “the Lamb of God” who took on the world’s sins, Welch proclaimed as the crowd erupted in applause. “And 2,000 years later he is still the Lamb of God.”

“This baby was called not just to be the Jewish messiah but was called to be the Savior of anyone who would call upon him to be saved—whether black or white, male or female, young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated…. The nativity is the greatest gift ever given.”

The nativity is joined on the courthouse grounds by other Christmas-related displays, mostly non-religious. Sanders said the county’s attorney had reviewed pertinent cases and found Henderson County to be in compliance with federal law.

After asking area pastors in the crowd to raise their hands, Welch invited the crowd to “grab one of these men by the hand” to learn how they might begin a relationship with Jesus Christ.

On Dec. 16, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote a letter to Sanders expressing his support for the county and offering to write a brief on behalf of the county should FFRF follow through on its threat to sue for the nativity scene’s removal.

Erick Graham, pastor of Sands Springs Baptist Church in Athens and a fifth-generation Henderson County resident, told the crowd that he hoped the rally marked a new beginning for cooperation among area pastors.

Graham lamented the county’s social ills, with high rates of methamphetamine use, teen pregnancy, child abuse and domestic violence.

Despite those, he said he had never been so proud to be from Henderson County.

“We stand in the gap today between those who have gone before and those who have yet to come, between our ancestors and our offspring,” Graham told the crowd. “Many have been asking, ‘What can we do?’ Until now our response has been ‘Pray and show up for the assembly.’ But today is just the beginning. Everything changes today.”

As the applause quieted, Graham called on churches to unite across denominational barriers to push back the spiritual darkness in the county. To date, “we have been wiping the runny nose of someone in cardiac arrest,” said Graham, alluding to the county’s spiritual and social ills.

“Though we don’t all agree on every doctrinal issue, we do agree that Jesus is the answer” to the problems the area has, he said.

Nathan Lorick, pastor of First Baptist Church of Malakoff, closed the rally with an appeal for Christians to no longer be “the silent majority” but rather to “take America back to a place of spiritual health and vitality” where “the truth of the Bible was not a mere afterthought but instead a foundational basis on which we live.”

“This is our heart today,” Lorick said.

Such a task is not accomplished by militant activism, Lorick emphasized, but through caring for the needy, protecting children, “and giving every child the right to live,” Lorick added to loud applause.

“It’s done,” Lorick said, “by daily being proactive in service and humility. Standing up to the things that are robbing our children of a future. This is how the message is heard—by putting action to our faith.”

One of the few references to FFRF during the rally came from Welch, the Brownsboro pastor. The atheist group sent a banner of its own to Henderson County that read, “At this season of the Winter Solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but a myth & superstition that hardens hearts & enslaves minds.”

Welch responded, “My friends, this is what the nativity states: At this season of Christian celebration, let faith prevail. There is one true God. And there is a devil, and there are angels. And there is a heaven and a hell. There is a supernatural world. Religion is not myth. It is not a superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds. But the gospel of Jesus Christ breaks the hard heart … and frees the mind that surrenders to him.”

“This is what the nativity stands for and this is why we stand,” Welch said.

The East Texas display is one of a dozen nativity scenes that the non-profit Wisconsin-based FFRF is working to eliminate.

 

-30-

ATHENS—The debate over religious expression in the public square will be center stage as church groups gather in Athens at noon on Dec. 17 to protest an atheist organization’s demand that the annual nativity scene be removed from the Henderson County courthouse lawn.

A Facebook page for the event stated: “There is a rally being planned … to respond to the threat to the nativity scene on the courthouse square. Organizers said they are hoping that Christians can use this rally to come together in love, to unite and show the world the true spirit of Christ and Christmas.”

Organizers were sponsoring a food drive benefiting area food banks in conjunction with the rally. Rally participants were asked to bring non-perishable food items for collection. “We’re expecting a large turnout,” said one of the rally organizers, Nathan Lorick, pastor of First Baptist Church Malakoff.

Since Lorick’s appearance on the Fox and Friends television show on Dec. 8, he said he has been inundated with calls and e-mails from across the country and around the world—including Iraq and Honduras—in support of efforts to keep the nativity in place. Supporters from as far away as Oklahoma said they planned to attend.

The nativity is only part of an annual display set up by the community organization Light Up Athens. Also on the lawn of the county courthouse are Santa and elves. Most of the displays are more festive than religious.

But the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) charges the nativity scene constitutes an endorsement of religion by the government. Henderson County Judge Richard Sanders said the county's attorney had reviewed pertinent cases and found Henderson County to be in compliance with federal law.

The atheist organization’s request rattled enough people to make national headlines. When news of the demand broke, Lorick and fellow pastors Erick Graham, Robert Welch, and Derrick Rogers put out a YouTube invitation for all pastors in the area to meet and determine a plan of action to address what Lorick called another attack on the freedom of speech by Christians.

More than 70 area pastors from various denominations gathered on Dec. 9. That so many pastors from different denominations came together with a common cause was a sign to Lorick that God’s hand is at work in Henderson County.

“I believe this rally is an answer to prayer,” Graham added in an e-mail. He pastors Sand Springs Baptist Church in Athens.

“We have been asking God to push back the powers of darkness in our county and for God’s people to move forward with the power of the gospel,” he said.

Welch, pastor of Rock Hill Baptist Church in Brownsboro, also wrote about his reasons for supporting the rally.

“The majority of Americans still believe that Christ is the meaning of Christmas and the reason for their celebration,” Welch said. “Over the past decade I’ve watched the politically correct movement aggressively seek to limit the expression of this belief. We who believe Christ is the meaning of Christmas can sit silently or stand and speak out.”

Graham agreed that Christian expression has become stifled and believers, to a degree, are to blame for letting it happen.

“Our Christian liberties have been taken little by little and we have been backing up bit by bit. How far do you have to back up before you are backed against a wall?” Graham asked.

All of the pastors said the rally would be a positive show of faith and unity among believers and a demonstration of love to the community.

Graham admitted there is the potential for heated rhetoric and disruptive actions. One disagreeing post on the Facebook page stated, “I'm the one coming to kick the baby jeebus out of the public square back into your homes and churches where he belongs. Why force your nonsense on everyone else?”

 The pastors are encouraging believers not to react angrily to such disagreeable words or actions but, instead, be guided by Christian principles.

Citing Galatians 5:22, Graham said, “We are going to act with love … and self-control instead of anger and bitterness. In a time where Christians are known for what we are against, we want to show that we are for some things too.”

Since his Fox and Friends appearance, Lorick as been interviewed on local and national TV and radio shows such as Glenn Beck and by Focus on the Family and Family Research Council. Because of the media attention leading up to Saturday’s rally, Lorick saids the event could have a national platform.

The other pastors agree and want to ensure that what is seen and heard is for the glory of God.

Welch said: “It’s an opportunity for us to visually show our support of our county officials who have refused to remove the nativity and to pray for them. It’s an opportunity for the church to communicate the love of Christ to our community. It’s an opportunity for Henderson County Christians to set a precedent that might encourage believers all over our country to stand up to the threat of the politically correct movement and keep Christ in Christmas.”

Lorick said the gathering “is not a pep rally for believers. It is a call for people to contend for the faith.”

Ultimately, it’s not about the nativity seen, he said. The demand to have the symbol of Christmas removed is only a symptom of the disease that plagues the nation. The pastors said America was founded on biblical principles and yet to assert those principles in word or deed incites angry protests.

“There are very real and daily examples in America where Christianity is being repressed,” Lorick said.

He noted the visceral commentary targeting outspoken Christian Tim Tebow, quarterback for the Denver Broncos. He also cited New York City’s recent court victory that lets stand a ban on churches renting New York City public schools for worship services.   

Lorick continued, “It’s not just defending the symbol of our faith but the fact that this nation was built on Christian and biblical foundations.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent a banner to a Henderson County resident who has agreed to post it on the courthouse law. The organization argued the nativity display is a de facto public forum and they are adding their comments. The banner states: “At this season of the Winter Solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth & superstition that hardens hearts & enslaves minds.”

Lorick said the FFRF has the same right as religious organizations to freedom of speech. But he argued the banner’s message is degrading to all religions and is not an example of civil discourse.

-30-

FORT WORTH—On a flat-screen television monitor visible from an outside window, a black and white image of a tiny hand seemed to wave at everyone in the room. Then the outline of a face became visible and on a bedside monitor of the same image, a heartbeat thudded rhythmically, signaling a little person only six weeks along in the womb of its mother was alive and moving.

Unfortunately, not all lives that begin get the chance to continue. According to the Planned Parenthood-affiliated Guttmacher Institute, 22 percent of all pregnancies end in abortion.

In 2008, that meant more than 1.2 million women chose to abort their children. With the help of Diane Montgomery and her colleagues at the Fort Worth Pregnancy Center, though, some of those lives will have a chance to continue—a chance to grow up and a chance to make their own choices.

“[These mothers] don’t know what to do,” Montgomery said. “They need someone to listen to them. They need someone to care about them because everyone else is just saying, ‘Do what you’ve got to do for your own self. It’s your body.’ And nobody is really listening to the emotional troubles they are having, and so through that, because we care for them and listen to them, it opens a door for not only the potential of lives to be chosen, but for her life to be changed, for the Lord to influence her life and spiritually to be changed as well.”

Montgomery, who began volunteering at the center shortly before she took a staff position there in August, said the Lord used her time in studying for her master of divinity degree at Southwestern Seminary to prepare her to minister to the women in crisis.

“I was applying all that I was learning here into writing and ministry, so I was applying a lot of the academic stuff, but I wanted to apply the practical [aspect]—to get down to the women of the real world— and I wanted to give back to the community,” she said. “You’re poured into so much here at Southwestern, and I wanted to pour into other women who have no clue what they’re missing out on.”

With women aborting 6,000 babies in Tarrant County each year, Montgomery said the center is in constant need of help, be it time, money or prayer.

“We always need volunteers because it breaks my heart when we have to turn away women because we don’t have enough volunteers and we don’t have someone that can meet with them,” she said. “I think Southwestern women would be ideal volunteers because whether they’re a wife of a student or they are a student, they’re getting the training, they have a heart for ministry, and they understand the practical side of helping people in crisis.”

The center does not just need women, but men, too, added Montgomery, whose husband, Alex, plans to get involved in the crisis pregnancy ministry.

“He wants to become a volunteer to help those guys who are sitting there in the waiting room when their girlfriend is with us, who just say, ‘OK, yeah, it’s your choice. You can do whatever you want. I support you.’ And they have no idea what an abortion really means,” Montgomery said. “We have guy counselors that go in there to encourage them to know how to support their girlfriend or wife in this situation and to educate them on what’s going on in their girlfriend’s body, in their mind, what would happen with her during an abortion or adoption and just kind of how to be a man in a relationship.”

Though she and Alex will deploy as missionaries to Columbia sometime in 2012, Montgomery said she plans to take the crisis pregnancy ministry with her.

“There’s a huge need for pregnancy centers where we are going,” she said. “Legal and illegal abortions are rampant. There is no pregnancy center that gives these women alternatives. They feel like they are stuck there. I just hope that I touch not only women in Tarrant County but also women in South America because it is a huge issue.”

Montgomery, who was named in October as the 2011-2012 Priscilla Scholarship recipient, came to Southwestern after graduating from Tarleton State University. A tennis player with dreams of opening her own bakery, she never imagined God would lead her into ministry, but she followed willingly wherever he led her.

“I started out in the master of arts in Christian education degree,” Montgomery said. “After taking Mrs. Patterson’s biblical theology of womanhood, I just wanted more. She spurred me on to want to know more, to grapple more with Scripture, to know more about women in Scripture. It was the Lord doing a work in me.”

That spurring led Montgomery to switch to the master of divinity in women’s studies degree, which she completed in May 2011. She said her involvement in women’s programs during her time at the seminary has developed skills and ministries in her that she never would have predicted for her life.

“The program offers you so much education and preparation that you can do anything. Because of the women’s program here, the Lord developed in me a writing ministry that I never thought I’d be able to do,” explained Montgomery who, with two other women, writes content for a website—UnlockingFemininity.com—and is working on a book.

From the pregnancy center to her writing to meeting her husband in a personal evangelism class, Montgomery said the Lord has determined her path. Whether going door-to-door or working at the pregnancy center, Montgomery said she strives to share the hope and truth of Scripture.

“That is kind of how I got turned on to the pregnancy center, was my love for women and ministering to women and then also a love for the gospel,” she said. “It’s the perfect opportunity that I can love on women, that I can help them, and that I can share the Lord with them. It’s just kind of the perfect place for that.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to space constraints in the last TEXAN, this story was held for this edition.

IRVING—Evangelism and God’s sovereignty were the focus of a dinner and dialogue Nov. 15 at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in Irving.

The event, co-hosted by Criswell College and the SBTC, featured Calvinist Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and non-Calvinist Barry Creamer, newly elected vice president for academic affairs and professor of humanities at Criswell College. They answered questions from moderators Jerry Johnson, president of Criswell College, and Jim Richards, SBTC executive director. Nearly 500 people attended the dialogue.

Dever said that while believers must share the gospel, salvation is God’s sovereign work.

“Any credit, any good that happens from (evangelism) will be because it’s God’s Holy Spirit who’s working through your faithful evangelism and bringing people to know himself by his sovereign mercy,” Dever said. “And we know it (evangelism) is going to work. That’s the great hope that I have in the doctrine of the sovereignty of God for evangelism.”

Creamer agreed but took issue with several doctrines of traditional Calvinism:

• Though sinners reject God when left to themselves, God gives lost people the ability to believe or reject the gospel, Creamer said.
• “The missing essential in any condemned person’s salvation … is not whether God has chosen or elected them to salvation,” he said.
• “The missing essential ingredient in any condemned person’s salvation is not whether God intended Christ’s death for them, nor whether Christ’s atonement extended to them,” Creamer said.
• People can reject the gospel even if God intended to save them and worked to save them through Christ’s death, according to Creamer.

Those who hold Reformed theology lose “one of the major psychological motivations for evangelism,” Creamer said, by not believing that people’s salvation depends on their witness. He added that his objection to Calvinism is based on the Bible, not on the idea that Calvinism is unfair.

LIMITED ATONEMENT
Since Creamer believes that Jesus died for some people who eventually go to Hell, Johnson asked him to explain how his position does not entail an unjust “double payment”—making lost people pay for sins that Jesus has already paid for.

Creamer responded that those who suggest an unfair “double payment” wrongly reduce the atonement to a matter of accounting. Christ died for everyone as a broad demonstration of his love, Creamer said.

“I actually can’t conceive of a stronger way to understand God’s love than that he demonstrates fully his love towards people who contemptuously reject him,” Creamer said. “I think that’s part of the picture in the Old and New Testament. I think he extends it to people who reject him.”

Creamer said he does not hesitate to tell anyone that Christ died for him, unlike some Reformed believers who are more comfortable telling large audiences only that “Christ died for sinners.”

Johnson asked Dever how God can condemn the lost for failing to believe the gospel if Jesus did not die for them. “If they’re damned for unbelief, what did they not believe? If Christ did not die for their sins on the cross, how could there be condemnation linked to unbelief?” Johnson asked.

Unbelievers “are rejecting what God is telling us,” Dever said. “They’re calling him a liar. They’re choosing to stand on their own in front of God to justify their own life.”

CULTURAL RELEVANCE
Dever and Creamer agreed churches must contextualize the gospel by stating it in language that their audiences can understand. They added that there are many valid styles of worship but cautioned against contextualizing to the point of compromise.

“I know all the interest is on contextualization,” Dever said. “But I want to tell (pastors), if you think the most important things about your mission are what is distinct to the people you’re trying to reach, then you’re not understanding the gospel because the most important things about any true Christian church or any Christian, from Jesus until now, are those things that we have in common.”

SUPPORTING THOSE WITH OPPOSITE VIEWS
Richards asked how each man felt about supporting church planters through the Cooperative Program who may hold the opposite view on the Calvinism spectrum.

“We are well aware that the SBC is certainly not a fully Reformed fellowship,” Dever said. “It is obviously a fully evangelical fellowship. And as long as John Wesley has the gospel, he’s my friend and I am thankful for him. And I want to support gospel work because that non-Christian is not asking whether or not I believe in limited atonement. They need to hear the gospel.”

Yet Dever said Reformed Southern Baptists are confused by the mixed messages they hear from their non-Reformed brothers and sisters. On one hand, many non-Calvinists in the SBC say they want both camps to work together. At the same time, others refuse to hire or work with Calvinists, he said, adding that he does not understand the motives of the antagonistic group.

According to Creamer, the antagonism is a response to the way some Calvinists illegitimately use God’s sovereignty as an excuse for not witnessing with zeal. He noted that not all Calvinists lack of zeal for evangelism, and said Calvinists should be included in the convention.

SBC CALVINISM, PAST & PRESENT
Dever and Creamer also addressed the similarities and differences between the Calvinism of 19th-century Southern Baptists and the brand of Calvinism popular in the SBC today.

Creamer said the two are related, but contemporary SBC Calvinism is largely a reaction to some unbiblical and manipulative methods of evangelism used during the last three decades of the 20th century.

Dever noted that while there were some non-Calvinists when the SBC was founded, there was far more unanimity regarding Reformed theology among Southern Baptists in 1845 than there is today.

CALVINISM & PASTOR SEARCH COMMITTEES
Both said honesty and transparency about theological beliefs are vital when prospective pastors interview with search committees.

“It’s not good to defer the conflict,” Creamer said, encouraging Calvinists to reveal their position during the interview process.

PUBLIC INVITATIONS
When asked whether pastors should give public invitations, Dever said every sermon should include a call to repent of sin and trust Christ. However, he said the means of expressing belief can vary—from talking to a pastor after the service to an altar call or other method.

Baptism is the only physical response to the gospel mandated by Jesus, according to Dever.

Creamer said, “The invitation is not about getting people to walk the aisle. It’s not about praying. It’s not about acts. But those things may be expressions (of faith).”

ORDER OF SALVATION
Though virtually all theologians agree that exercising faith and receiving new birth from the Holy Spirit happen at the same moment in time, Dever and Creamer disagreed over which comes first logically.

Creamer said new birth comes as a result of exercising faith in Christ. Dever argued that men and women could exercise faith only as a result of the Holy Spirit causing them to be born again. They agreed that faith is essential for salvation and that faith comes only in response to the Word of God.

DECLINING BAPTISMS
SBC baptism numbers are declining as a result of unbiblical evangelistic methods, Dever said.

“We had a ton of false conversions, and I think non-Christians don’t really evangelize,” he said. “So churches are full of people that don’t know Jesus, and those people, of course, are not going to evangelize other people.”

Dever added that baptism statistics are not a completely accurate representation of evangelism in SBC churches because many congregations do not report their baptisms. Capitol Hill Baptist Church, for example, has baptized many people but has not reported its baptisms for years because it believes denominations do not need to track such numbers.

Creamer said baptisms have declined because Southern Baptists have focused on methods rather than the gospel.

“The church prospers when we focus on the gospel,” he said. “… And I think we don’t. We focus on methods. We focus on business models. We focus on everything else. Even when we have success, we’re not successful because we’re not getting the gospel out.”

IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
God will draw all of the elect to himself and cause them to believe in Christ in response to hearing the Word of God, according to Dever—a doctrine traditionally referred to as “irresistible grace.”

“I’m quite confident that those that God has elected and his Son has died for will be the very ones to be regenerated and raised up the last day and resurrected as justified sinners,” Dever said. “It just gives a great foundation of joy.”

Creamer said grace is never irresistible. No one can believe in Christ without being drawn, but God draws many who do not respond with faith, he said.

In response to a question by Dever, Creamer said his position on irresistible grace is similar to that of John Wesley.

ELECTION
Johnson asked what the Bible means when it calls Christians “elect according to the foreknowledge of God.”

Dever responded that God chose specific individuals for salvation out of love and grace. “God knew who he was choosing,” he said.

Creamer argued that election refers to the Father’s choosing Christ and all those who follow him. There was no decision to choose specific individuals for salvation, he said.
“God chose Christ, and I’m elect when I’m in Christ,” Creamer said.

He asked Dever whether he believes in “double predestination”—the idea that God chooses some to be saved and some to be damned. Some contrast “double predestination” with “single predestination”—the idea that God chooses to save some and pass over others without actively choosing anyone to damn.

Dever replied that he does not see much logical difference between “double” and “single” predestination. He cited Romans 9 as Scriptural support for the idea that God destined some for eternal life and some for damnation. Still, Dever emphasized throughout the discussion that non-believers act willfully and are fully blameworthy.
Each called the other’s view inconsistent.

Creamer argued that it is inconsistent for a Calvinist to call the non-elect to believe because they are unable to obey the command. Dever responded that non-Christians are naturally capable of faith but refuse because their sinful hearts are averse to trusting Jesus.

Dever challenged Creamer by asking how he could argue that it is possible for all people to reject Christ when Scripture guarantees that some will be saved in the end. Creamer answered that God can make the promise without fulfilling it through a Calvinistic scheme.

In closing, both men emphasized the importance of calling the lost to turn from their sins and place their faith in Jesus.

“I hope you don’t fall into the kind of bad patterns that Barry mentioned of thinking that it doesn’t really matter if you witness to someone,” Dever said. “I hope our conversation here—whether it’s through Barry’s urgency or my confidence in God’s sovereignty—will encourage you to share the gospel with people.”

Creamer echoed the call to evangelism.

“I just hope … that we have had a renewed commitment to declaring clearly what Christ did in the world and what he overcame in the resurrection and what he has offered to people, and then extend to them … a compelling invitation to come to the gospel,” Creamer said.

FORT WORTH—Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary opened its new 3,500-seat chapel on Dec. 1 with a daylong celebration, including a ribbon cutting, dedication chapel service, baptisms and a free Christmas concert. The opening of the J.W. MacGorman Chapel and Performing Arts Center represents the largest venue of its kind in Fort Worth.

The 96,000-square-foot complex will serve as the setting for the seminary’s weekly chapel services, graduation ceremonies, musical performances, conferences and other special events. Beginning in July 2012, it will also house the “Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible” exhibition.

Preaching during a morning chapel service from 1 Kings 8:22-30, school President Paige Patterson said his prayer for the chapel was similar to Solomon’s dedicatory prayer for the temple—that it would be a place to honor the name of the Lord, a place to seek his face, and a place to experience his presence.

Citing the many uses of the chapel and events that will come, Patterson said, “Never miss the point that all of that is add-on. It comes to nothing if certain things are not true of this place. All we seek of God today is that he will choose this place, that his presence will be known and experienced here.”

Patterson noted that many have asked him recently if he is excited about the new chapel, to which he responded, “Not yet.”

“I can’t be excited about it until I see what you’ve heard from the lips of several today, that it has moved from being a building to a house of transaction—when I see that transactions of eternal consequence begin to take place here and people begin to find Christ as Savior and they’re drawn here to the Lord Jesus—because, ladies and gentlemen, that’s the only thing that matters in time and eternity.”

Patterson presented the gospel at the end of the service, inviting people to come forward to receive Christ or to pray about their relationship with the Lord. During the invitation, several people came forward to talk and pray with seminary professors.

Dignitaries from across the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) attended the dedication service, including GuideStone Financial Resources President O.S. Hawkins, ERLC President Richard Land, and Golden Gate Baptist Seminary President Jeff Iorg. Three special guests brought greetings and shared their joy in the historic day: Frank Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee; Hance Dilbeck, chairman of Southwestern’s board of trustees; and Heinrich Derksen, president of Bibleseminar Bonn, a German partnership with the seminary.

Built by Manhattan Construction, the same company that built Cowboys Stadium, MacGorman Chapel is also designed as a venue for top-quality stage productions and musical events.

Alongside its excellent acoustics, the auditorium features state-of-the-art sound, video, and lighting systems, as well as a combination pipe-digital organ that can support congregational worship as well as large choral and instrumental ensembles. The main stage is large enough for a 90-piece orchestra and 200-voice choir. Two projection screens are mounted on each side of the stage, each one equivalent to a 330-inch television. Behind the stage, choir and orchestra rehearsal rooms provide space for musicians to prepare, and a hospitality suite offers a reception area for intermissions and private gatherings.

Immediately following the chapel dedication service, guests gathered in the main lobby for the dedication of The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Baptismal Pool. The SBTC provided funds for the dual-purpose fountain and baptismal pool, which serves as a symbol of the seminary’s commitment to evangelism and missions as well as Baptist views on the meaning and mode of baptism.

To cap off the daylong celebration, Southwestern’s School of Church Music presented Christmas at Southwestern, an annual concert featuring Christmas carols and pieces from Rutter’s “Magnificat” and Handel’s “Messiah.” The free concert open to the public garnered widespread appeal, resulting in a near-capacity audience.

The MacGorman Chapel and Performing Arts Center is available to groups interested in hosting performances, conferences, graduations, or other special events. To inquire about holding an event in MacGorman Chapel, call 817-923-1921, ext. 2440.

To read individual stories about various places in the chapel and to view photo slideshows, visit swbts.edu/MacGormanChapel.